WASHINGTON CITY-THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. 



Memorial to Congress 



BY THE 



JOINT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES 



OF THE 



CITIZENS' ASSOCIATIONS 



OF THE 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

AGAINST THE REPEAL OF THE FIFTY PER 

CENT. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL 

APPROPRIATION LAW. 



JANUARY, 1894. 



, <r>, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

LAW REPORTER COMPANY, PRINTERS 

518 FIFTH STREET, N. W. 




TABLE OF CONTEI^TS. 

Page. 

Introduction 1 

1— First Period, 1787-1791 2 

2— Second Period, 1791-1802 6 

3— Third Period, 1802-1812 9 

4— Fourth Period, 1812-1865 10 

5— Fifth Period, 1865-1874 13 

6— Sixth Period, 1874-1894 14 

7 — Government solely responsible 16 

8^ — Departures from the organic pledge 17 

9 — The bulk of real estate exempted 21 

10 — Rapidly decreasing tax lists 24 

11 — Consequences of repeal 25 

12— Appendix 28 



INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 

Acres, in city, 5 ; in county, 19, 20, 21, 23 ; Avenues and streets, 
width and length, 7 ; surface, condition of, 12 ; length of, 7, 20. 

Board of Public Works, abolished, 14. 

Capital, removal of, 2, 12 ; Charters, 10, 11, 13 ; City and ward debts, 
11 ; City insolvent, 12 ; Expenditures before 1835, 12 ; Commis- 
sioners, 14, 15 ; Constitution, 2 ; Courts, U. S. local, 18. 

DeArmond, Mr., 2, 25 ; District of Columbia, indefinable, 15. 

Executive Committees, 27 ; Exempted property, 21, 23. 

Franchises given away, 17 ; Fifty per cent, clause, 1, 14, 15. 

Ingalls, Senator, 15. 

Jefferson's letter and message, 8. 

Lots, proceeds of, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 ; free from taxation, 9. 

Moore, Tom, 10 ; Mt. Pleasant, 20. 

North Capitol Street, 2. 

Parks, Rock Creek, Zoological, 1, 2, 18, 23 ; Partition, with pro- 
prietors, 4, 5, 19, 20 ; Plan, City, 3, 4, 6, 7 ; Suburban extension, 
19 ; Pledge of U. S., 17 ; Proprietors, original, 4, 5, 19, 20 ; Subur- 
ban, 20, 21. 

Repeal, consequences of, 25 ; Reservoirs, 18, 23 ; Revenues, lost, 
double taxes lost, 24 ; Rock Creek Park, 2, 18, 23. 

Seventh street, extended, 17 ; Senator Southard's report, 6, 8, 9, 10 ; 
Special assessments, 11, 13, 15 ; Streets, (see avenues) for nothing, 
3, 4, 5 ; Condition of, 12 ; Improved by the U. S., 8, 9, 10, 16; Su- 
burban street extension, 19. 

Tax lists decreasing, 24 ; Taxpayers, number of, 2 ; Territorial Gov- 
ernment, 13. 

United States improves streets, 8, 9, 10, 16, &e. ; U. S. property in 
real estate, in city, 22 ; in county, 33. 

Valuation and rates, for taxation. Appendix. 

Washington, President, 3; hifc fetJ^er, 8. 



MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS. 



To the Senate and House of Itepresentatives of the United States 
of Anierica in Congress assembled : 

This memorial showeth : 

111 the Act of June 11, 1878, giving a permanent form of 
government to the District of Columbia, it is provided that 
tlie District Commissioners shall annually submit, the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury revise, and the Commissioners trans- 
mit to Congress, estimates of the amount necessary to de- 
fray the expenses of the District of Columbia for the next 
fiscal year and — 

"To the extent to which Congress shall approve of said es- 
timates, Congress shall appropriate the amount of fifty per 
centum thereof ; aud the remaining fifty per centum of such 
approved estimates shall be levied aud assessed upon the tax- 
able property and privileges in said District other than the 
property of the United States and of the District of Columbia. ' ' 

The above law was adopted at a time when the relations 
of the District and the Capital City to the United States 
were fully understood. Five years of successive investiga- 
tions by Congress, conducted by its best talent and result- 
ing in four large volumes of reports, numerous debates in 
the House and Senate and constant discussion by the pub- 
lic press, had made the whole nation familiar with District 
affairs. The law of 1878 was the expression of thoroughly 
informed Congressional wisdom and was acccepted by the 
intelligent minds of the country as an equitable adjustment 
of a question which had been left for eighty-seven years 
without definite settlement. 

But the membership of Congress has greatly changed 
since 1878, and the facts then familiar to Senators and Rep- 
resentatives are remembered by only a few. It is chiefly 
to new members we owe the passage of laws ignoring the 
annual estimates and charging the District revenues with 
half the expenditures for improvements not municipal but 
national, such as the one of April 30, 1890, making the 
District responsible for half the current expenses of the 
Zoological Park ; the one of September 27, 1890, making 



the District responsible for $600,000, lialf the purcliase 
money of the Eock Creek Park, and for half the annual 
expenses of its maintenance ; the one of this Congress, plac- 
ing upon the District the whole expense of opening North 
Capitol Street to the Soldiers' Home ; and the one of March 
2, 1893, providing for the extension of the Washington City 
plan of streets and avenues over the suburban part of the 
District, at the sole cost of the District and private owners 
of land. All these are departures from the text and the 
principle of the law of July 11, 1878. 

Last year, 61 members of the House voted to reduce the 
annual appropriation in question from 50 to 25 per cent., 
and, at the present session, Mr. De Armond, in Bill No. 
4562, proposes to repeal altogether the 50 per cent, appro- 
priation laws. The enactment of this bill would throw 
upon the 28,913 taxpayers of this District, the whole ex- 
pense of local improvements and administration and would 
exempt from taxation, or its equivalent, more than half 
the real estate values in the District limits. Such a system 
is without precedent and, in the light of experience and ex- 
isting facts, must be pronounced an impracticable vagary. 
Mr. De Armond's resolution to remove the capital is its 
companion piece. 

We propose to pass in review the different methods used 
since 1787 by the National Government for the regulation 
of its financial relations with the Capital City, to add a 
statement of existing conditions and to conclude with a 
presentation of the consequences of the innovation i)roi)Osed 
by Mr. De Armond. 



I. FIRST PERIOD. 1787 1791. 

Congress shall have power "to exei'cise exclusive legislation 
in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exeeeding ten 
miles square) as may by cession of particular States and the 
acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the Government of 
the United States.'" (Const., Art. 1, Sec. 8.) 

New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland were each willing 

to cede to the United States its chief commercial city to be- 



come the seat of Government ; but these and other cities were 
rejected and it was determined to locate the District in an 
interior rural region, central and accessible by tidewater, 
where the Government might have not only exclusive jur- 
isdiction of ten miles square, but, without cost, the owner- 
ship of land enough to lay out its future capital on a scale 
of grandeur unequalled in Europe. 

Owing chiefly to the influence of Washington, the pres- 
ent site was chosen. He had hunted over it, surveyed 
parts of it, resided near it, and was familiar with its advan- 
tages and disadvantages. Its extensive water front was 
partly covered by marshes. Its undulating high grounds 
in the north and east were separated by a creek and morass 
from a flat area nearly two miles long, only a few feet aDove 
high tide and extending from the present Capitol Hill west- 
wardly to the Potomac and southwardly to Anacostia ; and 
more than 400 acres were subject to overflow by freshets. 
(See map by Board of Sanitary Engineers, June, 1890.) The 
uplands made miry roads and would need paving ; and 
the lowlands needed dyking, sewering, draining, the build- 
ing of sea-walls, and the filling up of marshes. The place 
was a most unsuitable site for a city of ordinary municipal 
resources, but a suitable one in every way for the capital of 
a great Republic with the revenues of a nation to improve it. 

Washington undertook to get the land from the owners 

and effected his object by persuasions and, in the case of 

David Burns, by threats of condemnation. His bargain 

was creditable to his shrewdness as a business man. March 

3, 1791, he wrote to Tliomas .Jefferson that he had purchased 

the land for the Federal District, as follows : 

''The terms entered into by rae on the part of the United 
States with the landholders are that (all the land) is ceded to 
the public on condition that wlien tlie whole is laid oft" as a 
city (which Major L'Enfant is now directed to do) the present 
proprietors shall retain every other lot ; and for such parts of 
the land as may be taken for public use for squares, walks, 
etc., they shall be allowed at the rate of £25 [.fOG.G(;] an acre. 
Xothing is to be allowed for the ground which may be 
occupied for streets and alleys." 



4 

The assertion so often repeated, tliat, at this interview, 
Washington exhibited to the owners a plan of the city is 
contradicted by the hmguage of the above letter. A rough 
sketch of the White House and the Executive Departments 
near it was probably shown. (See N. King's letter of Sept. 
25, 1803, Burch's Dig., 351.) 

March 30, 1791, nineteen proprietors signed an agree- 
ment that — 

"lu cousideration of the great benefit we exiject to derive 
from having the Federal City laid off upon our lands, the 
President is to have the sole power to order the city to be 
laid off iu what manner he pleases," etc. 

repeating the terms as stated by Washington in the 
above quoted letter to Jefferson. 

June 29, 1791, the proprietors deeded their lands to 
trustees for the use of the United States — 

'"For a Federal City, with such streets, squares, parcels and 
lots as the President for the time being shall approve." 

The United States were to have " streets " for nothing, 
all squares, parcels and lots for its own use, at =£25 an acre, 
half the residue of all other lots for nothing, and the price 
(|36,099) of all parcels, etc., for its own use, to be paid for 
out of the proceeds of lots donated, when such lots should 
be sold. The surplus of sales wrs to go to public buildings 
and city improvements. (See Burch's Digest, 225, 330.) 

The omission to mention "avenues," in the letters, agree- 
ments, and deeds relating to this transaction is remarkable. 

There is nothing in the documents to show that the 
proprietors had any notice whatever, that the proposed city 
was to be laid out on a plan widely different from the plans 
of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. L'Enfant's 
plan w'as not ready for several months after the deeds were 
made by the proprietors. It was submitted to Congress, in 
an imperfect form, December 13, 1791. (Burch, 356.) 



Partition op City Site with Former Owners. 

Acres. 
Donated to the United States, for streets and alleys... 3,606 
Donated to the United States, 10,136 building lots*.. 982 
Bought by the United States for public buildings 

and use 541 



Total number of acres taken by the United States... 5,129 
10,136 lots deeded back to former owners 982 



Total number of acres divided 6,111 

In 1790 and 1791, Maryland donated to the United States 
172,000, and Virginia $120,000, in consideration of the lo- 
cation of the District within their limits. 

In a report made February 2, 1835, for the Senate Com- 
mittee on the District of Columbia (23d Cong., 2d Session), 
Senator Southard says : 

' ' It appears that the peoj)le of the United states have paid 
nothing for all their public lots, nor for the property in the 
streets. They procured them and now own them, without the 
expenditure of a single dollar." 

U. S. Profits on Transaction. 

In the same report (1835), Senator Southard states the 
account as follows : 

" The number of building lots acquired by the Government 
was 10,136. A large proportion of them have been sold and 
given away by Congress, and it appears by the records in the 
office of the Commissioner of Public Buildings, that the ac- 
count of the Government in regard to them may be thus 
stated : 

^Erroneously stated in several publications as 1,508 acres. From 
the city surveys we get the correct number. The number 1,508 was 
obtained by assuming the city area to be 7,163 acres, which contra- 
dicts the surveys, unless the marsh lands on the east and west are 
included. The city suiweys establish the area at 6,111 acres. The 
number of acres taken for streets was, by all the authorities, 3,606, 
and the number bought by the United States (541 acres, IJrood and 
39 perches) was ascertained by survey and the price paid. The total 
of these established factors is 4,147 acres, which, deducted from the 
surveyed area, 6,111 acres, leaves 1,964 acres, divided as building 
lots. 



6 

The cost of said lots was nothing. 

There has been received from the sale of the 
building lots 1741,024.45 

There have been given away to charitable and 
literary institutions ($2,500 of which was 
given to a college out of the city), lots to the 
value of 70,000.00 

The lots undisposed of, according to the assess- 
ment of 1824, are worth 10,221.84 

There was received by the Government in grants 
from the States of Maryland and Virginia (in 
the years 1790 and 1791) .... 192,000,00 



Amounting in all to . . . . 11,112,246.29 
And if it be a correct estimate to put the value 

of the whole public reservation at . . 1,500,000.00 



The amount will be ... . $2,612,246.29" 
In a report made to Congress in 1816 by the Secretary of 
the Treasury, the amount " accruing to the U. S., from the 
mere circumstance of locating the seat of Government at 
this place " is stated at $1,979,791.77. If Congress had not 
forced sales of lots when there was little demand for 
them, or donated lots given to it for a different and special 
purpose, what was then known as the " Federal City Fund " 
might have been made to yield at least four millions, an im- 
mense sum compared with the Government revenues at the 
end of the last century. 



II. SECOND PERIOD. 1791 TO MAY 3, 1802. 

These eleven years are distinguished in the early history 
of Washington City by the fact that the United States 
managed its capital, without using the intervention of any 
subordinate municipality. It acted through the President 
and city Commissioners appointed by him. The principal 
act of this period was the announcement by President 
Washington of 

The Plan of the National Capital. 
This plan was the result of the skill and genius of 
L'Enfant, stimulated to the highest by the patriotic enthu- 



siasni of Washington and Jefferson. The last named sent 
from Europe for suggestion the plans of the finest cities of 
the world, and the former was in frequent consultation witli 
the architect. L'Enfant was familiar with the radiating 
avenues from hunting lodges in the royal forests of France 
and with the three grand avenues diverging from the 
palace of Versailles, the most beautiful government city of 
Europe. In his ardent imagination, the widest street in 
A^ersailles was to be narrower than the narrowest of the 
leading streets in the Federal City, and the three avenues 
of Versailles were to be thrown into insignificance by more 
than twenty in the capital of the young and growing 
Kepublic. These avenues, some of them diverging from 
the Capitol and others from the White House, and others 
still connecting the parts of the city most distant from each 
other, were to form, at their intersection with the streets 
and with each other, triangular public spaces, intended for 
ornamentation, with fountains, flowers and statuary, and 
circles, intended for national monuments, beautiful shrub- 
bery, and pleasure grounds for the people. Numerous 
reservations for public buildings, a broad Mall in the 
central part of the city, extending from the Capitol to the 
Potomac, and a boulevard around the northern boundary, 
completed the plan. It was a grand conception of great 
men, who left it to be wrought out by a posterity worthy to 
follow in their footsteps. 

Of the original streets, there were 44 lettered and 52 
numbered; and the average width of the lettered was 92 
feet and of the numbered 93 feet. There were twenty 
auenues, varying from 120 to 160 feet wide, the average 
width being 148 feet. (Rothwell's Laws of Washington 
City, 489.) The aggregate length of streets and avenues 
was 228 miles, which has been increased to 234|- miles, a 
distance greater than from the Capitol to New York City. 
The total surface of all the streets and avenues in Wash- 
ington is, approximately, 14 million, 840 thousand 814 
square yards. All this was to be graded, metalled, paved. 



8 

drained, sewered, lighted and kept in repair. To gain a 
conception of the street work to be done in this city alone, 
imagine a street one hundred feet wide, extending from 
Washington to New York City, graded, with its carriage- 
way asphalted, its gutters made, its curbstones set and side- 
walks laid, with drains, sewers, lamp posts, and shade trees. 
In the Senate report above quoted, the following statement 
is made: 

"The District was the creation of the Union for its own 
purposes, the plan of which was formed by the public au- 
thorities, the dimensions of the streets determined by them 
without interference by the inhabitants or regard to their 
particular convenience or interest, a j^lan calculated for the 
magnificent capital of a great nation, but oppressive from 
its very dimensions and arrangement to the inhabitants, if its 
execution to any considerable extent was thrown upon them." 

The U. S. Improved the Streets. 

Abundant proof of this exists in the records of the City 
Commissioners of that period. A few facts on this point 
will suffice for the purposes of tliis memorial. On the 14th 
of December, 1795, President Washington wrote to the 
Commissioners : 

"When you are in a situation to begin the opening of the 
avenues, it is presumed those which will be more immediately 
useful will be first cleared." 

August 29, 1801, Jeflf'erson wrote to the Commissioners: 
"Gentlemen : Your favor of the 24th is duly received, I 
consider the erection of the Representatives Chamber, and 
the making a good gravel road from the new bridge on Eock 
Creek, along Pennsylvania and Kew Jersey Avenues, to the 
Eastern Branch as the most important objects for insuring 
the destinies of the city which can be undertaken, -k * » 
$4,000 for four miles of road were then estimated to be suffi- 
cient, but, from your statement, $3,695.99 have been expended, 
and half the distance (though not half the work) remains to 
be finished, * * * But if anything remains of that fund, 
I will venture to direct a further portion of the price of the 
site to be paid you for completing this road," &c. 

In a message by President Jefferson to both Houses of 
Congress, January 11, 1802, he says: 

" The lots in the city which are chargeable with payment of 
these monies are deemed not only equal to the indemnification 



of the public, but to insure a considerable surplus to the city, 
to be employed for its improvement, provided," &c. 

In a letter from the Commissioner of Public Buildings, 

tlie following item is given as a copy from the records of 

expenditures of the Government for the improvement of the 

streets of Washington : 

" 1800, Making footway from Georgetown to the 

Capitol . . ' $10,000" 

(For the last four documents, see Senator Southard's Re- 
port, 1835, republished in full in Board of Public Works 
Report for 1872.) 

(The United States built the Chain Bridge in 1797.) 
Though the city population was 3,210 in 1800, it does 
not appear that Congress made any demand upon the citi- 
zens for contributions, or imposed any taxes upon them ibr 
city improvements. The general belief was that the 
United States would bear all the expenses of the new city. 
We find on page 67, Vol. 3 of Winterbotham's History of 
the American United States, London, England, 1795, a 
notice of the gift of Washington City lots by the proprie- 
tors, ending with : 

"This grant will produce about 15,000 lots and will be suf- 
ficient, not only to erect the public buildings, but to dig the 
canal, conduct water through the city and to pave and light 
the streets, which will save a heavy tax that arises in other 
cities, and consequently render the lots considerably more 
valuable." 

The first two sales of lots were extensively advertised in 
England, and Thomas Law and other Englishmen were 
among the purchasers. 

That the prices of the lots sold before May, 1802, were 
higher because of their supposed future i'rcedom from taxa- 
tion, there is no reason to doubt; but no express pledge by 
the Government to that effect can be proven. 



III. THIRD PERIOD. 1802-1812. 

The growth of the population creating a necessity for lo- 
cal government, to relieve Congress of the petty business of 



10 

licenses, police regalations, &c., resulted in the charters of 
1802 and 1804. Under these, the Maj'or was appointed by 
tlie President and his veto could be reversed only by a 
three-fourths vote of both branches of the City Council. 
Among the minor powers were — 

"To erect and repair bridges ; to keep in repair all neces- 
sary streets, avenues, drains and sewers, and to pass regula- 
tions necessary for the preservation of the same, agreeably to 
the plan of said city.'" 

No power was granted to open or close a street or alley, 
construct a sewer, or to assess for special improvements. 
Congress does not seem to have changed its course in regard 
t(; the city. The following items appear in the accounts of 
the Government with the capital: 

1802. Building a jail in Washington . . $5,800.00 

1803. u 44 u ... 5,906.00 
1803. Imj)roving Pennsylvania Avenue . . 13,466.69 
1807. l^epairs and ojiening streets and avenues, 3,000.00 

(Senator Southard's Report, supra.) 

From the same authority we learn that the new city ex- 
pended upon the streets from the beginning " an average 
annual sum of not less than $13,000." This amount was 
beyond its means, the population being only 8,208 in the 
year 1810, and there being no special taxes. At the end of 
the period, the city was heavily in debt, and its streets and 
avenues were not yet cleared of forest trees. " In 1812 
these debts amounted to |17,000." (Webb's Digest, 166.) 

In 1804, the poet Tom Moore visited Washington and 

wrote his celebrated satire upon it: 

"This embryo capital, where fancy sees 
Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees, 
Which second-sighted seers even now adorn 
With shrines unbuilt and heroes yet unborn." 

The city streets were in little better condition in 1812 
than in 1804. 



IV. FOURTH PERIOD. 1812-1865. 

The features characterizing this period of fifty -three years, 
in regard to the financial management of the city corpora- 



11 

tion, is the system of special assessments on abutting prop- 
erty, for local improvements made on petition of owners. 
Ten years effort by the city to meet necessary expenditures 
on streets by a general tax of three-fourths of one per 
cent, on real estate and by occupation taxes, had brought 
the corporation into bankruptcy. In the charter of May 4, 
1<S12, Congress authorized special assessments not exceeding 
$2.50 per front foot for improvements made on petition of 
two-thirds of the owners of inhabited houses fronting on the 
desired improvement. (Sec. 5.) In the charter of May 15, 
1820, this power was renewed, the cost not to exceed $3.00 
per front foot, and the petition to be signed by the owners 
of more than lialf oi the property fronting on the improve- 
ment. This gave a standing fer the first time to the owners 
of vacant lots and made much easier the work of getting 
petitions for the improvement of streets. 

This system of street improvement was regulated by ordi- 
nances passed from time to time, notably by three passed in 
May, 1853 ; one providing for Commissioners of Improve- 
ments, the Act concerning Paved Footways, and the Act 
relating to Paved Carriageways. (Sheehan's Corp. Laws, 110.) 

The new powers of the corporation increased its receipts, 
but the pressure for urgent street repairs was too great to 
be resisted. In 1818 the city debt had grown so large that 
.$00,000 of it was funded, and a fourth of each year's taxes 
was set aside for its redemption. (Webb, lOH.) The dif- 
ferent wards also became insolvent and their debts were 
funded in 1821. (The amount of ward debts in 1837 was 
1108,513.11.) In 1829 a joint committee of the City 
Council reported on the state of the cor})oration finances- 

The debt, not including a million due for stock 

subscriptions, was stated at $361,826.92 

Annual receipts at 50,408.48 

Annual expenses at 33,821.84 

Leaving a })robable annual surplus of.... $1<),586.64 
which if contiiuied and if the debt for stocks should not 



12 

be called for, would pay off the current indebtedness for 
street work in about twenty-eight years ! If the stock sub- 
scriptions should be called for, the corporation was hope- 
lessly bankrupt. 

From the last date until 1865, Congress was resonant 
with the despairing cries of this corporation. Citizens 
petitioned, and the Mayor and Councils memorialized the 
Senate and House for relief. (See particulars, H. R. Doc. 
No. 14, 2d Session, 23d Congress, H. R. Doc. 68, 1st Session 
same Congress ; and Senate Doc. 23, of January 2, 1834 ; 
and H. R. Rep., 366, of same session.) At the end of this 
period tlie city debt was stated by the Mayor in his message 
at $793,000. 

And yet, with the single exception of the subscription to 
the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal stock, no improvidence or 
unfaithfulness could be imputed to the city corporation. 
The taxes had been diligently collected and honestly 
applied. Prior to 1835 the expenditures by the city for 
local improvements had been $430,000, in addition to the 
amount contributed by the United States. 

The enormous outlay upon the streets and avenues of the 
National Capital would have sufficed to put the final 
touches of improvement on any city of narrow streets like 
St. Louis ; but, as every Union soldier in the late war who 
visited Washington at that time will testify, none of its 
best avenues were then in good condition and most of its 
streets were muddy in wet weather and ankle deep in dust 
in dry weather. Mud holes, dirt and cobblestones were the 
rule. It is not to be wondered at that a few western men 
proposed to remove the Capital to St. Louis : it must be 
admitted that, at that time, the Capital City did not appeal 
to the pride or a?sthetic taste of the American people. One 
of the potent causes of its condition was, it had for many 
years been regarded by an influential and sometimes domi- 
nant political element as the capital of a Confederation 
soon to pass away. Its public buildings were temporary 



13 

barracks, and its broad avenues were soon to become pas- 
ture grounds. The duty of Congress to the Capital city 
was, however, never repudiated and seldom forgotten. 



V. FIFTH PERIOD. 1865-1874. 

The enactment of the law of February 23, 1865, was one 
of the first symptoms of the popular consciousness of estab- 
lished nationality. It was the first movement of the new 
population of Washington to make the city what a national 
capital ought to be. The limitation of three dollars a front 
foot in the expense of street improvements had made them 
cheap and rude ; and the prohibition of such improvements, 
unless petitioned for by the owners of more than half the 
abutting property, had enabled rich men and syndicates 
of land owners to prevent the laying of sidewalks and the 
paving of carriageways. The new law abolished the limita- 
tion and prohibition. The city corporation began to act 
freely. Ordinances in great number ordered improvements, 
the total cost of which was to be taxed on abutting prop- 
erty. The charges were onerous and caused much discon- 
tent. Discussion and agitation involved the entire District 
and Congress, and resulted in the enactment, February 21, 
1H71, of a law providing a Territorial Government for the 
District of Columbia. This law gave to the people tho 
election of the House of Delegates and of a delegate te 
Congress ; and to the President the appointment of the 
Governor, the Council, the Register, the Recorder, the At- 
torney, the Marshal and the Board of Public Works. This 
Board was given " entire control of * * * the streets, 
avenues, alleys and sewers of the city" and the right to 
assess special taxes and disburse the moneys when collected. 
These special assessments were against abutting property 
and were not to exceed one-third of the cost of the improve- 
ment, a reduction favorable to owners. The former system 
of charging the whole cost was oppressive, tending to force 
owners in straitened circumstances to sell out to capitalists. 



14 

In practical operation, the effective powers of the new 
Government proved to be vested in the Governor and 
Board of Pubhc Works. These went to work with amazing 
energy on a "Comprehensive Plan" of grading, sewering, 
paving and sidewalking the city, without regard apparently 
to the limits of revenue. All moneys in the District 
Treasury, from taxes, special assessments and appropria- 
tions, was spent, debts were incurred by millions and 
special assessments were showered upon real estate owners. 
These appealed to Congress against the Board of Public 
Works and asked an investigation. This was granted. 
After exhaustive inquiry, the United States officials com- 
plained of were condemned. Congress passed, June 20, 
1874, "An Act for the Government of the District of Col- 
umbia," &c. This abolished suffrage in the District with 
the representation by delegate, and transferred the powers of 
the Governor and Board of Public Works to three officers 
called Commissioners. It left in them unimpaired the 
power to levy special assessments, wliicli had been the chief 
evil complained of. The complaining citizens wore justi- 
fied and, at the same time, punished. The Board of Public 
Works was condemned but continued under a new name. 
See H. R. Rep., 647, 1st Sess., 43d Congress. 



VI. SIXTH PERIOD. 1874-1894. 

The law of June 20, 1874, providing a temporary form of 
government for the District, and the law of June 11, 1878^ 
" providing a permanent form " of said government are sub- 
stantially similar, so far as regards our present inquiry. Tlie 
titles are misleading. The casual reader is led to think of 
the District of Columbia as a municipal corporation, with 
some attributes of independence of the United States, with 
its own revenues and separate functions ; and of its citizens 
as clothed with the rights and privileges of the freemen of 
other cities. He is apt, too, to be struck with the generosity of 
the "fifty per cent, appropriation" clause, which reads as if 
that fifty per cent, were a donation from a munificent, patron 



15 

The truth reveals a different state of facts. From June 
20, 1874, the District of Columbia has been an undefin- 
able myth, a Corporation not to be classified, for it has 
no parallel. It cannot make a bond, create a debt or pay 
one. It is liable to suit and judgment, but it cannot pay a 
judgment, for its revenues are taken from it daily and 
locked up in the United States Treasury. Its managers are 
agents of a higher power. It is an executive department 
of the United States and not a government though so-called 
in the statute, ironically. Its citizens have no rights or 
privileges as such. They are the only citizens of the Re- 
public who have no voice in framing their own laws or 
managing their own affairs. They don't vote taxes; they 
only pay them. They have no control over the assessor 
and collector. The}^ can't oppose oppression by any means, 
except the courts and humble petition. They live, said 
Senator Ingalls "under an absolute despotism." (See 
Record, December 21, 1883, page 229.) "If the citizens of 
the District don't like it, they can go elsewhere." (Senator 
Ingalls, in Washington Post, July 22, 1888.) In their al- 
lusions to the District as if it were an independent cor- 
poration or government, the laws of 1874 and 1878 are 
examples of sardonic pleasantry in legislation. The fifty 
per cent, appropriation clause, instead of purporting to be a 
gracious gift by the United States to the District, should 
have read as follows : 

"In consideration of being permitted to hold property within 
the District, the owners of real estate shall be taxed one-half 
of the amount of the estimates, made by United States officials 
and approved by Congress, of the annual expenses incident 
to managing the District of Columbia." 

The District Commissioners followed zealously in the 
path trodden by their predecessors, the Board of Public 
Works. From July, 1874, to June, 1878, their chief work 
was to continue and complete the improvements begun by 
the Board, and to add to them when they could. Their 
acts were not disapproved by Congress, but their power to 
levy special assessments was abolished by the law of June 
11, 1878. 



16 



VII. GOVERNMENT SOLELY RESPONSIBLE. 

From the preceding review, it is clear that for eleven 
years beginning with 1791, and the twenty years beginning 
with June, 1874 — in all 31 years — Congress has had the 
exclusive control of the improvement of the streets, avenues, 
alleys, etc., of the Capital City ; and for the last twenty 
years of those of the entire District of Columbia; also, that 
during all the years in which aid was distributed by the 
city corporation or the District Territorial Government, 
Congress exercised a supervision and made appropriations 
as needed. In Senate Ex. Doc, No. 84 (2d Sess., 45th Cong.) 
a Treasury statement of appropriations and expenditures 
in the District of Columbia, from July 16, 1790, to June 30, 
1876, we find (p. 204) the following totals: 

Bridges $1,290,568.12 

Streets and Avenues 5,975,294.98 

Total $7,265,863.10 

The names of the streets and avenues improved are: 

Pennsylvania avenue. Indiana avenue. 
0{)ening and improving Maryland avenue. 

streets and avenues. New Jersey avenue. 

Paving Fifteenth street. Twelfth and Fourteenth 

Four-and-a-half street. streets. 

Seventeenth street. Delaware avenue. 

B street south. Fourth street sewer traps. 

Improvements, per Act of Maine avenue. 

May 17, 1848. Missouri avenue. 

Flagging sidewalks, Virginia avenue. 

East Capitol street. Arch over Tiber Creek. 

Sixth street west. B street south, Sixth to Sev- 

Executive avenue. enth west. 
Miscellaneous improvements. Sewers under Penn. Ave, 

Completing the grades. Sewer under Fifteenth street. 

The above expenditures began in the last century and 
ended in the first half of 1876. If to the more than 
7 millions 265 thousand dollars expended by the United 
States we could add all the expenditures made by the 
city corporation, and the sj)ecial taxes paid by the 
property owners, and the expenditures of the Terri- 



17 

torial Government during the same time, we would 
have the sum total up to 1876 of the cost of street 
improvements in the National Capital. 

But, although the city corporation and lot owners 
have contributed to the expenses of avenues and 
streets, they have never had, or pretended to have, 
any proprietary right in them. This has been as- 
serted and exercised by the United States. From 
the time when it gave away to colleges and charit- 
able societies lots deeded to it for otlier purposes by the 
original proprietors, the Government has been the master 
in this matter — Congress lias ordered the sale of reserva- 
tions and parts of streets, has appropriated to its own uses 
lands reclaimed by filling u[) the canal, and has granted to 
railroad and other cori)orations, with or without considera- 
tion, franchises worth many millions in the streets of the 
Capital and even in the roads of the District. It is but a 
short time since the Seventh street road, one of the oldest 
approaches to the city, (built and kept in repair by the 
Levy Court and used chiefly by farmers for the transporta- 
tion of their products to our markets) was, without consid- 
eration, practically confiscated by the Government for the 
benefit of a passenger electric railway line. Tiie consent 
of citizens has not been asked to the grant of these valuable 
franchises. In assuming the sole responsibility of owner- 
ship and management Congress admits its liability for 
necessary expenditures. 



VITI. DEPARTURES FROM THE ORGANIC PLEDGE. 

The fifty per cent, clause in the " permanent form of gov- 
ernment" Act of June 11, 1878, was understood when made 
to be in the nature of a pledge of honor and good faith of 
the United States to the citizens of this District. In the 
general run of legislation, it has been observed by Congress, 
but there have been several departures from it, by inadvert- 
ence or misintorjnetation of t!ie i)ledge. Among (liem a few 
may be mentioned : 



18 

(a) The Local United States Court Expenses. 

These were not included in the annual " estimates," but, 
for several years, half of them have been imposed upon 
the District taxpayers. For this, there was no precedent 
either in the District or the States. 

{h) The Empty Reservoir. 
This work was ordered by Congress, and done under the 
supervision of the U. S. Engineers, at \he cost of nearly two 
millions, six hundred thousand dollars. Though not in- 
cluded in the annual estimates half this cost has been im- 
posed upon the District taxpayers. The injustice of this is 
flagrant : The United States owns the site and is to get a 
free water supply forever for its public buildings ; the tax- 
payers acquire no right of ownership and have individually 
to pay "water rent" forever, the aggregate being sufficient to 
keep the reservoir in repair. Unfortunately for both parties, 
the reservoir is useless. The taxpayers are charged, includ- 
ing interest, nearly a million and a half for what now seems 
to be a useless " hole in the ground." But the United States 
owns the property ! 

(c) Maintenance of the Zoological Park. 
This park was originated by Smithsonian scientists for 
the preservation of specimens of the rapidly disappear- 
ing wild beasts of America. In its design, it is purely na- 
tional. In no sense is it properl}' a municipal affair. It was 
not asked for by our taxpayers, yet half the maintenance^ 
improvements, repairs, &c,, is charged to them annually. 
This annual half is now $25,000. 

(d) Rock Creek Park. 
This is purely a national affair and intended to eclipse 
the great national })arks in England, Franco and Germany. 
The taxpayers of this District have the same relation to it 
which they have to the Yellowstone Park in Montana. As 
Americans, we approve, and have approved, the creation of 
the Park; and we know posterity will be proud of it; but 



19 

we fail to see why u few resident taxpayers of this locahty 
should pay $600,000 of the purchase money and half the 
annual expenditures made on a park whose beauty' will 
not be fully brought out for half a century. Is it right to 
tax us half the cost of the Army and Navy Monument be- 
cause we admire it ; or half the maintenance of the Navy 
Yard and Arsenal because some of us visit and enjoy their 
well kept grounds? As yet, we can pay our half of ex- 
penses purel}' municipal, but we are quite unable to stand 
U}) under half the cost of sustaining the national glory. 
(c) The Suburban Street Extension Law. 

March 2, 1893, Congress passed '-'An act to provide a 
permanent system of highways in that part of the District 
of Columbia lying outside of the cities." The system is the 
extension over the District of the street plan of Washington 
City, the highways to be not less than 90, nor more than 160 
feet wide, and to have circles and reservations at their 
intersections, as in Washington. In short, the National 
Capital is to be extended on its present plan to the boun- 
daries of the District ! 

The scheme is brilliant, worthy to be ranked with the 
Panama Canal and the Railroad of the Three Americas. In 
grandeur, it is worthy of the country of Niagara Falls and 
the inland sea of the Mississippi. It stirs the blood of 
patriotism, expressing unbounded faith in the stability of 
the Republic, the resources of its Treasury, and the future 
glory of its Capital City. 

Examine it for a moment. The territory to be thus 
added to Washington comprises about 31,92.'> acres in all, 
but excluding 1,923 of them for villages and the Eastern 
Branch, 30,000 acres. These, under the proposed system, 
are to be divided between the United States and private 
owners as the site of Washington was, except that no reser- 
vations are to be bought for public buildings and uses. In 
the original Washington, the 5,570 acres, excluding the 
purchased reservations, were divided as follows: 



20 

Acres. 

Streets and Avenues 3,606 

Building lots 1,964 

Total "5,570 

For the proposed addition to the city, following the pro- 
portion of the division between the United States and the 
original proprietors, the 30,000 acres of the county, accord- 
ing to the scheme of the suburban street law, will be divided 
as follows : Acres- 

Taken by the United States for streets, avenues, &c., 19,422 
Left to the owners 10,578 

Total number of acres 30,000 

The streets, avenues, &c., in the addition would be 1,250 
miles in aggregate length. 

The new city will be more than five times as large as the 
present one. When its improvements will be finished it is 
hard to foresee. If it has taken more than a century to 
bring Washington into its present half-finished condition, 
it may take several centuries to perfect the District — even 
if Congress should be liberal. 

When we turn from the grandeur of the plan to the 
means provided for paying the first cost of the land to be 
taken for the streets and avenues, our admiration is changed 
to astonishment. In the 15th section, it is provided in 
effect, that one-half of the value of the land taken shall be 
assessed to land benefited and the other half to the District. 
The United States is to pay absolutely nothing, but gets a 
clean title to 19,422 acres ! Thus, the owner of a hundred 
acres has his farm latticed with streets and avenues, nearly 
two-thirds of it taken, and is told to look to the District for 
half the damages and to his neighbors for the other half. As 
his neighbors are in the same plight with himself and look 
to him for their damages he must rest content with his 
claim of half against the District Treasury ! 

The owners of small county properties which are cut 
diagonally by avenues will be left with valueless triangular 



21 

corners. It is said that the extension of Sixteenth street, 
which is 160 feet wide, through Mt. Pleasant, will destroy 
more than twenty dwelling houses and throw numerous 
premises into forms and sizes unavailable for any purpose. 

The so-called " system " is one of confiscation, under 
color of law. It will certainly give rise to much litigation. 

A large majority of our citizens would probably have 
voted for the extension of three or four city avenues to the 
District boundaries ; a respectable minority, we think, would 
have voted for the extension of all of them ; but hardly a 
vote would have been cast for the law as it stands on the 
statute book. 



IX. THE BULK OF REAL ESTATE VALUES EX- 
EMPTED. 

The number of square feet of real estate owned by the 
United States in Washington City, exclusive of the streets, 
avenues and alleys and of a few recent acquisitions, is 
34,828,362. The number of acres owned by it in the sub- 
urban part of the District, is 3,384. The bulk of the city 
property is tlie White House lot, the Treasury, Interior, 
General Post Office and Capitol buildings and grounds, 
the Judiciary Square and the Mall, all situated in the heart 
of the city. We claim no valuation for them different from 
that of the private property in their vicinity. Taking a fair 
average valuation on the above principle, the value of the 

United States city land is not less than $130,000,000 

Cost value of improvements, &(i 60,000,000 

Value of land in county 4,500,000 

Value of improvements 4,000,000 

1198,500,000 

In support of these conclusions, we present a detailed 
statement of the area and designations of parcels taken from 
the District surveys and records. 



22 



Lnited States Property Lying in Washington City, 



Sq. 

225. 

141. 

169. 

221. 

231. 

293. 

377. 

624. 

636. 

683. 

249. 

430. 

927. 

948. 

Res. 

10. 

Sq. 

82. 

158. 

985. 

100. 

230. 

259. 

260. 

Res. 

2. 

2. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

8. 

9. 

13. 

14. 

15,16. 

17. 



Lot. Sq. Feet. 

lto8 153,240 

Of 11 1,500 

Subs 1, 6, 17, 18, 19 31,394 

Of3, 4, 6, 7of8 23,075 

13 to 25 70,920 

Of 15 2,300 

Of 4 600 

Of 10 9,612 

55 to 62, part 59,015 

Ofl2ofl3 11,442 

1 14,775 

All 174,416 

All 64,299 

All 156,175 

All 30,711 



Columbia Hospital. 

Old engine house used for school. 

Winder Buildings. 

Department of Justice. 

Bureau of Engraving & Printing. 

Engine House. 

Stable, Post OfRce Department. 

Medical Museum. 

Government Printing Office. 

Architect's Office. 

Engine House. 

Franklin Square. 

U. S. General Post Office. 

U. S. Marine Barracks. 

U. S. Naval Hospital. 



Of 38, 39. 

All 

18, 19 

1, 2, 18.... 
Part 



1,019 Store House for Cong. Globe. 

10,610 
21,828 
14,010 

3,354 
14,806 

9,664 

9,666 



Sq. 
1140. 
1140. 
1142. 
1150. 
1151. 
1152. 
1153. 
1154. 
1155. 
1156. 
1157. 
1158. 
1159. 
1160. 



2, 9, 12. 
6 to 9. 
3 to 9.. 

All 

All 

All 

All 

All 



1,378,172 

2,553,378 

1,454,354 

3,631,562 

839,074 

3,054,017 

161,201 

181,221 

836,374 

3,361,199 

1,871,333 

118,752 

1,360,191 

2,636,865 

487,417 

4,600,222 

392,040 

20,301 
16,821 
31,162 
58,950 
62,538 
54,384 
58,950 
40,243 
80,598 
62,332 
58,950 
6,400 
80,700 
62,332 



Ground south of Square 230. 
Ground south of Square 259. 
Ground south of Square 260. 

Agricultural Bld'g Hot Houses. 
Smithsonian Institute, Nat. Mus. 
Armory Building, &c. 
Washington Monument. 
U. S. Observatory. 
Arsenal Buildings. 

Patent Office Building. 
Judiciary Square. 
New Jail, Powder Magazine. 
Navy Yard. 



Capitol Grounds. 
Botanical Gardens. 
Intersecting street-circles, 

spaces, &c. 
National Library. 

Sq. Sq. Ft. 

1161 42,436 

1162 62,332 

1163 62,332 

1164 20,600 

1165 80,597 

1166 62,332 

1167 80,546 

1168 62,332 

1169 80,597 

1170 62,332 

Res. 1 3,599,064 



Square feet 



34,828,362 



23 

To the above should be added the Maltby Building, the 
Butler Building, the new Post Office and all other land and 
improvements acquired in Washington City, since 1889, by 
the United States. 

The 3,606 acres in the city streets and avenues are not in- 
cluded. 

United States Suburban Property — Acres. 

55.86 Reservoir (near Georgetown). 

166.25 Receiving Reservoir. 
70. Naval Observatory. 

1. Battle Cemetery. 

11. Howard University Park. 

1. Smith's Spring. 

20.40 New Reservoir. 

20.34 New Reservoir. 

474.75 U. S. Military Asylum (Soldiers' Home). 

110.42 Columbia Institution for Deaf and Dumb. 

266.84 Reform School. 

423.26 Government Hospital for Insane. 
84.03 U. S. Navy Magazine. 

1515.27 Rock Creek Park. 
166.48 Zoological Park, 

3383.90 Acres. 

The District of Columbia property and the churches and 
charitable institutions should be appraised on the same prin- 
ciple — the valuation of property in their vicinity. There is 
no official valuation of recent date, and we are obliged to 
form an approximate judgment from situation of land and 
value of improvements. The District properties, including 
engine houses, property yards, school houses and their sites, 
are worth six millions. The two hundred churches and 
their sites certainly average twenty thousand dollars each, 
equal to four millions, and the land and improvements of 
cemeteries and of educational, art, and charitable institutions 
may fairly be valued at five millions. The following esti- 
mate of exempted property is approximately fair : 

United States land and improvements $198,500,000 

District of Columbia land and improvements, 6,000,000 
Other property exempted by Statute 9,000,000 

$213,500,000 
Deduct total assessed value (1893), of taxed 

property 191,417,804 

Excess of exempted property $22,082,196 



24 

The excess of property not taxed is more than twenty- 
two millions. No result widely differing from this can be 
reached by any one who will adopt the most recent valua- 
tions of private property as a rule for appraising public 
and other exempted property. 



X. RAPIDLY DECREASING TAX-LISTS. 

Within a very few years the following are among the 
properties transferred from the taxed to the exempted class: 

The Maltby House, the Butler House, the City Post Office, 
the Winder Building, the Department of Justice, the New 
Observatory, the Zoological Park and the Rock Creek Park, 
Expensive buildings have been erected on the exempted 
property, the cost of the marble building alone at the Sol- 
diers' Home being more than a million. The following- 
squares have been, at different times, condemned to the 
uses of the United States and made non-taxable: Nos. 169, 
221, 430,505, 506, 548, 549, 687, 688, 729, 730, 731, 883, 
884, and 885; and also two lots in square 636. 

Under the existing law the injury to the District, caused 
by the removal of property from the tax-lists, is double the 
loss of the taxes and the loss of an equal amount appropri- 
ated. Five hundred dollars lost in taxes is a loss of one 
thousand to the revenues. 

For example, take recent purchases and condemnations 
by the United States, valued as per last assessment, or at 
cost: 

Valuation. 

The Maltby Building, cost $130,000 

The Butler Building, cost about 161,250 

National Library site and buildings destroyed., 556,924 
Postoffice site, Pennsylvania Avenue, and build- 
ings destroyed 583,975 

Total propertv taken from tax lists .$1,432,149 

Total of taxes lost..."! 21,481 

Total of revenues lost 42,962 



25 

As with the growth of the operations of the Government, 
its necessities for more kind are ever increasing, it is easy to 
foresee the time when, if the present policy is pursued, the 
taxable real estate in the District will be ver}^ small in pro- 
portion to the non-taxable, and, consequently, unable to 
contribute more than a small part of the revenue necessary 
to meet the expenditures. This result is unavoidable. It 
cjinnot be prevented by raising valuations or rates. The 
j)roblem now pressing for solution is how to raise from less 
tlian half the real estate in the District and from special 
taxes on occupations, enough revenue to meet half the ex- 
penditures of a city which, owing to its plan, is more ex- 
pensive than any one of the same population in the world. 
It is a problem which will, in a few years, task the ingenuit}' 
of the most exacting Chinese tax-gatherer. 



XI. CONSEQUENCES OF REPEAL.. 

The enactment of Mr. DeArmond's bill (4582) would re- 
sult in an immediate winding up of District affairs. The 
receipts of the District of Columbia from all sources, 

In '92, were $2,826,861 

And in '93 $2,946,892 

They may, in 1894, possibly reach $3,000,000 

though the hard times ma}' make them much less. 

The expenditures for 1894 will not be less than for 1893, 

in which year they were $5,594,012 

Deduct possible receipts $3,000,000 

Deficit $2,594,012 

This deficit can be greatly reduced only by closing the 

schools, dismissing the police, stopping street repairs and 

improvements or suspending payment of the interest on the 

funded debt 

It must not be forgotten, too, tli at in the last twenty years 

the officials of the United States have incurred a large debt, 



26 

in the name of this District, and that the funded part of it 
amonnted on the first day of July, 1893, to...$] 8,575,400.00 
On which the annual interest is 710,414.40 

The only connection we, as real estate owners, have with 
this debt, which was contracted without our vote or consent, 
is that we can be forced to pay it. 

We have entire confidence in the justice, wisdom and 
statesmanship of Congress, and most respectfully submit 
for its consideration, as just and equitable principles: 

That the burdens of local land taxation should not be 
imposed upon less than half the real estate situate in the 
District, but upon the whole ; 

That if for reasons of public policy and the supposed 
interest of the United States any portion of real estate should 
be exempted by Congress, the just assessment against that 
portion should be assumed and paid by the United States; 

That if Congress shall make appropriations for monu- 
ments, statues, park improvements or salaries of a national 
character, the taxpayers of the District shall not be required 
to pay, except as other citizens of the United States ; 

And, also, that a great national capital should be main- 
tained and extended by the nation^ and not by a few 
individuals who happen to live in it. 

Respectfully submitted to the Special Committee. 

WILLIAM BIRNEY, 
Subcommittee on Memorial. 

Submitted on behalf of the Special Committee. 

ELLIS SPEAR, 

Cliairman. 

Adopted, January 11, 1894, at a joint meeting of the 
following Executive Committees of Citizens' Associations : 

East Washington. 

J. W. Babson. a. F. Sperry. M. I. Weller. 

F. A. Lehman. William Birney. 



27 



W. J. Frizzkll. 
A. J. Donaldson. 



Northeast Washington. 

Evan H. Tucker. 

N. L. King. 

Walter A. Johnston. 



J. D. Hintenesch. 
A. N. F. Holsten. 



Dr. L. W. Ritchie. 
Jos. H. Lee. 
W. H. Manogue. 
H. B. Looker. 
S. T. Brown. 



Georgetown. 

E. P. Berry. 

Archibald Greenless. 

Geo. W. King. 

J. Blundon. 
R. B. Tenney. 



John Marbury. 

F. L. Moore. 
Geo. Hill. 

J. G. Waters. 

G. G. Boteler. 



W. L. Cole. 
N. E. Young. 
John B. Sleman. 



Mt. Pleasant. 

Ellis Spear. 

S. R. Raby. 

L. S. Emery. 



J. W. SOMERVILLE. 

E. W. Woodruff. 

F. L. Campbell. 



S. S. Shedd. 



Takoma Park. 

Geo. a. Warren. 
Morris Bien. 



J. A. Finch. 



Brookland. 
J. A. Massie. 

South Washington. 

J. Harrison Johnson. O. T. Thompson. J. N. Birckhead. 

Charles B. Church. W. T. Walker. R. A. Walker. 

Andrew Archer. Hamilton Gray. 



A. L. Keene. 
a. g. osborn. 
Daniel Ramey. 



Brighiwood. 

T. W. Lay. 

C. G. Stone. 

W. H. Heron. 



W. A. Gatley. 
H. Darling. 

J. L. NORRIS. 



R. B. Buckley. 
Geo. H. Armstrong. 
J. N. Minnix. 
W. Marden King. 



Anacostia. 
Carroll W. Smith. 

J. W. TOLSON. 

Geo. O. Watson. 

F. H. Kramer. 

James E. Halley. 



Charles Kerby. 
Geo. p. Pyles. 
Dr. A. M. Green. 
Geo. H. Gray. 



APPENDIX. 

The following statistics taken from the World Almanac for 1894, refute the statement 
made in the House, that the rate of taxation in this District is lower than inany citj-, large or 
small, in the United States, They should have included another column showing the total 
revenues coiJected in each city. The tax-payers of this District paid into the Treasury last 
year $2,946,892. Is there any other population of 260,000 which has paid m that amount in 
one year ? 

STATISTICS OF CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The statistics in the following table were furnished to the World Almanac by the 
of the respective cities : 


mayors 


Cities. 


Area 
in Sq. 
Miles. 


Estimated 
Population 
Jan. 1, 189J. 


Net 

Public 

Debt. 


Assessed 
Valuation 

of all 
Property. 


Per Ct. 

of 

Actual 

Value.* 


Tax 
Rate.t 


Albany, N. Y 


9 

n 

9f 
3U 

6" 
10 

8.1 
37" 

14i! 

26.1 

42" 

11 

6.V 

51- 

5i 

4J 
21- 

180l 
24} 
271 

3| 
161 
17.1 

2i 

81 

8 
1Q% 
43* 
54 
29 
11 
44 

9 

'to 
6«4 

41' 

4 

171 
12 
17 
24 

l.V 

6' 
15 

8i 
12.1 
13l 

9 

7 

111 
9 

n 

29" 
14 


100,000 

115,000 

100,000 

525,000 

35,000 

40,000 

45,000 

478,000 

55,000 

999,046 

320,000 

30,000 

75,000 

60,000 

63,000 

50,000 

33,000 

1,500,000 

340,000 

330,000 

24,000 

110,000 

36.000 

40,000 

45,000 

35,000 

76,000 

150,000 

76,000 

300,000 

40,000 

45,000 

40,000 

37,000 

50,000 

90,000 

40,000 

100,000 

45,000 

56,000 

31,500 

52,000 

40,000 

115,000 

25,000 


$3,202,865 

2,186,500 

2,954,000 

16,100,854 

565,000 

326,500 

1,405,000 

30,539,290 

1,469,600 

46,847,912 

10,967,677 

328,000 
1,666,720 
1,269,800 
3,887,000 

935,000 

800,000 

18,476,450 

26,077,490 

5,600,942 

319,319 
7,183,400 

146,000 
2,249,300 
1,971,600 

275,000 
1,979,275 
1,852,768 

760,220 
2,163,292 

863,142 
1,466,650 
3,591,880 

570,000 

901,200 
2,650,494 

688,000 
1,860,100 
1,102,600 
1,724,391 

356,642 
1,094,750 

776,877 
1,384,500 

200,000 
16,700,000 

886,500 

451,500 
1,258,571 
1,052,000 

238,593 
2,161,000 
1,330,600 
9,211,000 


164,717,210 
72,000,000 
54,526,078 

292,000,000 
10,664,013 
19,152,208 
22,000,000 

893,975,704 
25,522,181 

496,054,706 

222,572,885 
4,500,000 
7(i,281,689 
32,590,988 
21,987,122 
16,500,000 
21,413,285 

243,732,138 

190,000,000 

121,280,015 
11,356,365 
58,203,606 
5,700,000 
19,000,000 
23,131,600 
9,580,555 
40,500,000 
72,000,000 
16,246,647 

199,681,210 
21,000,000 
34,649,792 
1.5,968,868 
15,669,505 
15,740,000 
60,534,005 
20,500,000 
25,000,000 
22,500,000 
48,890,060 
20,411,395 
22,895,195 
25,649,656 

103,547,925 
12,540,800 
85,000,000 
64,792,975 
12,325,031 
33,007,372 
6,000,000 
11,428,503 
17,000,000 
47,281,788 
90,000,000 


100 
90 
50 
75 
70 

50 

100 

50 

70 

... 

20 

100 

100 

(6)50 

45 

100 

58 

100 
40-50 

(c)25 
100 

m^ 

50 
50 
20 
25 
70 
75 
50 
70 
50 
60 
90 
66 
25 

100 
75 
75 
66 
60 
80 

100 
70 
40 
66 
80 
9 
33 
40 
40 
75 


11.80 
1 75 


Allegheny, Pa 


Atlanta, Ga 


1 50 


Baltimore, Md 


1 55 


Bay City, Mich 

Binghamton, N. Y. 
Birmingham, Ala.... 
Boston, Mass., (d)... 
Bridgeport, Ct 


1.90 
1.54 
.50 
1.29 
2 40 


Brooklyn, N. Y 

Buffalo, N. Y 

Burlington, la 


2.84 

1.67 

33 


Cambridge, Mass 

Camden, N. J 


1.64 
1 80 


Charleston, S. C 

Chattanooga, Tenn.. 
Chelsea, Mass 


2.30 
1.30 
1 56 


Chicago, 111 

Cincinnati, 


6.00 
2 70 


Cleveland, 


2 79 


Cohoes, N. Y 


1 00 


Columbus, 


2 80 


CouncilBluffs,Ia. (d) 
Covington, Kv 


2! 20 
2 07 


Dallas, Texas 


1 50 


Davenport, la 


175 


Dayton, 


2 52 


Denver, Col 


1 00 


Des Moines, la 


5 40 


Detroit, Mich 


1.51 


Dubuque, la 


1,50 


Duluth, Minn., (d)... 
Elizabeth, N. J 


2.62 
2 98 


Elmira, N. Y 


1.53 


Erie, Pa 


1.50 


Fall River, Mass 

Fort Wayne, Ind. ... 
Grand Rapids, Mich. 

Harrlsburg, Pa 

Hartford. Ct 


1.74 
1.10 

"so 

1.05 


Haverhill, Mass 

Hoboken, N. J 


1.8x 

2 08 


Holy oke. Mass 


1.58 


Indianapolis, Ind 

Jacksonville, Fla 

Jersey City, N. J. (d) 

Kansas City, Mo 

Lacrosse, Wis 


.75 
1.05 

2.84 


150,000 
32,000 
50,000 
63,000 
40,000 
41,000 
80,000 

180,000 


1.02 
2.00 


Lawrence, Mass 

Lincoln, Neb 


1.68 
3.90 


Little Rock, Ark 

LongIslandCity,N.Y 
Los Angeles, Cal.... 
Louisville, Ky 


2.17 

i.'sio 

2.17 







* This is the percentage of assessment upon actual valuation. 

t Tax on each $100 of assessed valuation. 

(h) On realty only, (c) Not to exceed 25 per cent, (d) Report of 1893. 



Statistics of Cities in the United States— Continued. 



Cities, 



Area 
in Sq. 
miles 



Lowell, Mass.j 

Lynn, Mass 

Manchester, N. H.. 

Memphis, Tenn 

Milwaukee, Wis 

Minneapolis, Minn.. 

Mobile, Ala 

Nashville, Tenn 

Newark, N. J 

New Bedford, Mass. 
NewBruiaswick, N.J 

New Haven, Ct 

New Orleans, La 

Newport, R. I 

Newton, Mass 

New York City 

Omaha, Neb 

Peoria, 111 

Petersburg, Va 

Philadelphia, Pa 

Pittsburg, Pa 

Portland, Me 

Portland, Ore. g 

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.. 

Providence, R. I 

Quincy, 111 

Reading, Pa 

Richmond, Va 

Rochester, N. Y 

Rockford, 111 

' Sacramento, Cal 

Saginaw, Mich 

Salem, Mass 

San Diego, Cal 

San Francisco, Cal... 

Savannah, Ga 

Schenectady, N. Y... 

Scran ton. Pa 

Seattle, Wash 

Sioux City, la. ^ 

Somerville, Mass 

Springfield, 111 

Springfield, Mass 

Springfield, O 

St. Joseph, Mo 

St. Louis, Mo 

St. Paul, Minn 

Syracuse, N. Y 

Tacoma, Wash 

Taunton, Mass 

Toledo, O 

Topeka, Kan 

Troy, N. Y 

Utica, N. Y 

Washington, D. C 

Wilkesbarre, Pa. ?... 

Williamsport, Pa 

Wilmington, Del 

Worcester, Mass 

Yonkers, N. Y 



13J 
13.\ 
33 

4 
21 
55 'i 

6.V 
11 
18 
17 

5 

8.V 
60 

' 10 

16 
41 

24J 

bl 

3" 
129i 
274 
12.1 
22J 

2| 
15tV 

61 

7 

5 
18J 

81 

4.V 
12| 

7 
14.V 
42i 

6 

5 
19.V 
31' 
42 

41 

6 
37 
11 

7 
61'. 
55' 
15J 
30 
50 
28.! 

6" 

^ 

6 
691 

4 

7 

9J 
36" 
12.i 



Estimated 
Population 
Jan. 1,1894 



6-5,000 
50,000 
75,000 

265,000 

200,000 
40,000 
90,000 

210,000 
55,000 
20,000 
94,500 

255,000 

21,000 

27,000 

1,914,148 

160,000 

55,000 

25,000 

1,170,000 

240,000 
42,000 
90,000 
23,000 

150,000 
35,000 
80,000 
90,000 

160,000 
35,000 
30,000 
58,000 
32,000 
17,000 

350,000 
60,000 
25,000 
85,715 
60,000 
45,000 
50,000 
36,000 
50,000 
37,000 
58,000 

650,000 

175,000 

110,000 
55,000 
27,000 

110,000 
33,685 
65,000 
50,000 

265,000 
40,000 
30,000 
67,000 
95,000 
35,000 



Net Public 
Debt. 



$2,570,051 
2,671,099 

832,933 
3,101,400 
5,044,000 
7,482,500 
2,269,000 
3,354,000 
12,249,694 
1,760,000 
1,237,245 

918,524 
15,871,047 

351,171 

2,252,302 

98,996,392 

3,011,100 

609,500 
1,223,100 
22,141,063 
8,872,940 
1,367,661 
1,450,000 
1,771,000 
11,787,921 
1,580,400 
1,111,500 
6,525,065 
6,730,000 

281,100 

800,000 
1,162,500 
^^901,475 

417,000 

^617,914 

3,525,450 

396,000 

534,641 
3,165,000 

834,000 
1,279,500 

916,000 
1,632,471 

950,000 

1,450,700 

21,376,021 

10,614,628 

3,937,500 

3,083,803 

225,812 
4,337,589 

337,000 

944,899 

37,500 

19,233,726 

250,000 

634,958 
1,599,600 
3,368,435 
2,000,000 



Assessed 
Valuation 

of all 
Property. 



Pr. Ct. 

of 
Actual 
Value.* 



164,088,275 




49,969,309 


85 


27,439,642 


70 


35,645,732 


60 


135,884,570 


65 


142,490,887 


40 


13,500,000 


33 


. 40,000,000 


55 


127,875,134 


60 


1144,475,095 




10,200,000 


70 


54,344,500 


60 


136,977,107 


100 


34,853,800 


100 


41,853,800 


100 


al, 933,518,529 




22,000,000 


io 


8,000,000 


17 


10,410,240 


100 


75-2,763,382 


75 


275,650,000 


100 


36,823,990 


100 


48,000,000 


40 


12,623,135 


66 


159,812,560 


100 


5,383,112 


25 


41,000,000 


66 


59,227,318 


100 


103.891,282 


100 


7,200,000 


20 


15,363,175 


66 


17,447,000 


60 


36,901,956 




14,483,464 


50 


342,64.3,179 


60 


32,798,396 


100 


9,300,000 


50-75 


18,612,773 


33 


38,239,738 


60 


19,000,000 


33 


41,773,600 


100 


5,694,434 


17 


55,239,919 


100 


17,250,000 


50 


24,909,063 


33 


279,810,390 


50-60 


125,239,589 


50 


47,780,720 


100 


41,553,440 


60 


19,000,000 


100 


50,000,000 


60 


9,329,353 


33 


47,082,352 


100 


19,116,827 


60 


202,624,167 




5,600,000 


19 


(.x)8,623,613 


60 


38,000,000 


100 


84,076,705 


100 


26,000,000 


95 



Tax 
Rate, t 



$1.56 
1.64 
1.85 
1.75 
1.52 
2.00 

.60 
1.50 
1.82 
1.75 
2.48 
1.95 
2.00 

.92 
1.48 
1.82 
4.40 
6.39 
1.50 
1.85 
1.10 
2.05 
1.00 
2.50 
1.60 
6.88 
1.30 
1.40 
1.59 
5.39 
2.20 
2.70 
1.73 

.85 
1.61 
1.50 
1.65 
3.50 
12.60 
3.00 
1.55 
6.50 
1.28 
2.05 
1.55 
1.40 
2.00 
1.72 
1.00 
1.80 
2.70 
1.58 
1.3^ 
1.68 
1.50 
4.80 
1.73 
1.10 
1.50 
1.56 



? Report of 1892. || Actual value. % Report of 1891 . 
+ Tax on each |100 of assessed valuation. 

(a) Assessed value of real property, $1,,562,.W2,.393; assessed value of personal property, 
$370,936,136. 
(x) Total State, county, town, city, and school taxes. 



WASHINGTON CITY-THE NATIONAL CAPITAL 



Memorial to Congress 



BY THK 



JOINT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES 



OF THE 



CITIZENS' ASSOCIATIONS 



OF THE 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

AGAINST THE REPEAL OF THE FIFTY PER 

CENT. ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL 

APPROPRIATION LAW. 



JANTJARY, 1894. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

I,AW REPORTER COMPANY, PRINTERS, 

518 FIFTH STREET, N. W. 



